


Rishi sunset orange

by wednesday



Series: adrenaline purple [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Rishi (Star Wars), Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23791891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesday/pseuds/wednesday
Summary: Something about Rishi is growing on him, to the point where even the cantinas are starting to seem almost decent. Well, notdecentdecent, but decent for a hive of pirates and every other kind of criminal imaginable.
Relationships: Theron Shan/Male Sith Warrior
Series: adrenaline purple [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714057
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45
Collections: What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside), When Death Loves Flamingos





	Rishi sunset orange

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Asymptotical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/gifts).



Theron doesn’t think about that time he had sex with a Sith on Manaan. It’s done and not going to come back to bite him. Or stab him with a lightsaber. It’s not mission relevant, so it’s unimportant and absolutely something Theron does not lie awake agonizing over. Okay, that part is actually true – he doesn’t have enough time in the first couple of months to agonize over anything. If he gets time to sleep at all, there’s nothing, not even the Empire’s Wrath that can keep him awake. 

Then Lana and he finally manage to evade the last of their tails and can get some work done. By the time they figure out something big is going down on Rishi, of all the dens of piracy and chaos, Theron has already done some lying awake. Then, on Rishi, he has more spare time as they wait for their various new contacts to get back to them. He does a lot of lying awake and agonizing then. Theoretically he should be able to just – stop thinking about it. 

The reality is that every new lead keeps adding more detail to an ominous picture, that picture being that they’re going to need outside help. Additional manpower is what Lana calls it, but they both know who that man is going to end up being. 

Yeah, that’s when he realizes it is in fact going to come back to bite him, and that he should have known that from the start. But then, there’s absolutely no one else he can blame for it. It’s all on him. 

And now he’s going to have to work with Wrath again. Maybe Wrath will pretend like nothing’s happened, be professional about it and not let it get in the way of work. Yes, he’s a Sith that, on their previous joined missions, used every available moment, both in person and over comms, to flirt with Theron in the most obvious and over the top way possible. And then fucked Theron in public. But there’s a chance he’ll not mention any of it when they meet again. 

Yeah. So that’s what keeps him awake at night. 

// 

There are agents that absolutely love this part – meeting criminal contacts in shady cantinas for information. Theron has until now not been one of them. What’s not to like; drinks that taste like cheap suspension fluid or acid, patrons with more arrest warrants and bounties on them than credits, and always without fail someone around who’s as likely to start a fight as a hungry rancor. Rishi, a pirate haven that doesn’t even pretend to follow any sort of galactic law, is exactly the kind of place full of shady cantinas of the kind Theron hates, but that are very good for his job. 

Something about Rishi is growing on him, though, to the point where even the cantinas are starting to seem almost decent. Well, not _decent_ decent, but decent for a hive of pirates and every other kind of criminal imaginable. 

The one he’s here for tonight ends up being very useful, so Theron’s in a good mood. As good a mood as he can be in after spending time in Kai Zaiken’s company, anyway. 

The man’s both unexpectedly annoying and unexpectedly self-absorbed. He’s been leading his own gang far too long to have ended up there on accident, though. Theron just has to compliment him enough and promise to take out enough of his rivals, and despite appearances Theron is pretty sure the second of those is the real reason Kai’s giving him any information. Theron’s still not sure if the air-headed shtick is a ruse and to what degree. It has to be, or someone would have killed him a long time ago. Half the time he has to deal with the guy, Theron’s tempted to make an attempt himself. He pretty much already did when he sent Wrath his way, but lucky for Kai, Wrath decided to be less murder and mayhem than Theron expected that day. 

Anyway, Theron gets his information, doesn’t kill Zaiken and manages to accidentally order a drink that doesn’t burn his tongue raw. It’s a good night. 

Then, just as he’s downing the last of his drink, a hand lands on his shoulder. 

“What might a Republic agent be doing in a place like this,” a familiar voice asks in a tone that should be threatening. Should be, but that’s not where Theron’s mind goes with it. Theron would recognize that voice anywhere. He tries not to think where he recognizes this specific tone from. 

He glances around to make sure no one’s close enough to hear. They’re alone at the far end of the bar and the music is loud enough to do the rest. 

The Sith, because it definitely is the Sith, runs his hand from Theron’s shoulder across his back and to the other shoulder before he steps into Theron’s field of vision. Really reminds him he should have worn more layers than just the one shirt, those shivers making their way down from where Wrath just touched him. 

“Someone might take it as an invitation to steal you away.” 

Oh, yeah, Theron definitely recognizes that tone. Fuck, and they have been doing so good until now. 

Yeah, okay, Theron’s been a complete disaster that spent weeks planning the best way to steer their relationship back into the strictly professional, preferably without ever mentioning that brief, extremely unprofessional episode on Manaan, and then when Wrath showed up, messed it up with literally his first line. He really hates admitting it even to himself, but maybe he kind of panicked when seeing the Sith face to face. Mostly because in all his calculations on how the Sith would react, he had forgotten to take into account his own possible reaction. Which was unexpectedly strong. He’d kind of forgotten there were reasons other than a complete loss of his senses why he’d had sex with Wrath. 

He wouldn’t have done it in his right mind, sure, but he would have found him unfairly attractive, even with the murder face on. 

So seeing him again amounted to being hit in the face with a very vivid memory of their last meeting. Added to the feeling of being hit in the face with the Force as well (also metaphorically, but he had forgotten the really disorienting feeling of suddenly being able to sense someone in the Force), Theron panicked. 

The Sith though, has been a model of professionalism. 

Except that first meeting at the safehouse, which Theron doesn’t count, because he was totally one hundred percent responsible for giving the Sith that opening. 

Other than that. And maybe also the first time they were alone together, which happened to be in the back room of the safehouse, while everyone else was busy. Theron went to look for a spare datapad with enough local storage that he could upload an extra copy of all their data without giving anyone the chance to intercept it, and ran straight into Wrath. Who was apparently just… hanging out in the storage room, practicing looking menacing. 

Wrath went from menacing to seductive in two seconds, mostly because the expressions looked scarily similar on him. 

“So, here we are. The two of us, hunting Revan. Alone,” Wrath purred, and reached for Theron’s face, ran his fingers along the edge of Theron’s jaw. 

And Theron panicked, again. Instead of giving one of the completely reasonable and polite versions of ‘ _thanks, but no thanks_ ’ that he’d come up with before Wrath’s arrival, he babbled something about getting back to work and pretty much ran away. Slowly. He wasn’t yet at the point of actually running, but he came pretty close then, mostly because he really didn’t think he could have given that ‘ _no thank_ s’ convincingly enough, not with Wrath touching him and staring at him with the same look in his eyes that Theron last remembered him having when they both had their pants open. 

Turns out it’s harder to ignore personal feelings when you know exactly how not ignoring them would feel like. Who would have guessed? 

And yeah, he spent a lot of time thinking of polite, non-confrontational ways to turn down a Sith that he maybe didn’t really want to turn down, but Wrath seemed to have gotten the hint without Theron finding new ways to embarrass himself. 

Which didn’t mean the Sith stopped flirting; he did it about as much and as flagrantly as before. None of it was anything personal, though, no references to Manaan, no hints at anything they had actually done. Just the same kind of ridiculously blatant teasing and come-ons that he’d used when they’d first met. Theron had been confused by them then, and he was confused now as well, but for a different reason. 

That’s how Wrath behaved during what passed for on duty. He did… other stuff, when he was hanging around and watching everyone else work, because none of them was brave enough to throw a datapad at the Wrath’s head and tell him to learn some slicing and start being useful. 

He definitely watched Theron with interest, but his expression then could have meant anything. Maybe he wanted to fuck Theron, or maybe he was planning how to dispose of his body without staining the floors. Maybe both, or anything in between – Wrath could actually be kind of inscrutable when he wanted to. And he watched everyone. 

Theron just kind of learned to tell when the Sith was looking at him by the new really disturbing extra sense he had acquired, and it was often. 

(He knew just enough about the Force to be unsurprised something like this was happening, and was just tired enough of all the Force banthashit to run an extra cycle of diagnostics on his implants every other night. Just to make extra sure it wasn’t some stress glitch. He kept hoping it would be. 

It wasn’t.) 

// 

So this, this now isn’t how things should go. 

Wrath has been unexpectedly great about not reminding Theron there is the whole ‘ _we had sex and now have to work together and now it’s awkward_ ’ issue, still in no way resolved. It hasn’t even been that awkward, outside of Theron’s head. 

And now Wrath is here, sitting down at the bar next to Theron. 

“Are you waiting for someone to steal you away, Theron?” The question might be almost innocent, if not for Wrath’s very very intent look. Definitely far too similar to his murder face, but it’s still making Theron almost want to say yes. Just to see what would happen. If Wrath would do the delighted surprise expression again. 

“Hey. Didn’t know you’d be here tonight.” Theron should have realized there was a reason for his suspiciously good mood, such as it actually being Wrath’s mood projected all over the place. It hasn’t been an issue so far, but he’s sure been looking into ways to block it. One of these days, if it does become an issue, he might even ask Wrath what the hell is up with that. 

“I hadn’t planned on it. Then I overheard someone around here was asking too many questions about the Blades,” Wrath trails off meaningfully. 

“Fuck.” There are parts of this whole net of interlocked plans that rely on him and Lana remaining anonymous for now. If someone’s made him… 

“Don’t worry,” Wrath interrupts the beginning of Theron’s thoughts, “I took care of it.” 

It’s like Wrath talks half by meaningful ominous pauses. It works though – Theron gets the idea. He’ll have to double check where he messed up, but if Wrath says it’s taken care of, it’s taken care of, body disposal included. 

“Thanks,” Theron says, and realizes he wishes he knew how to talk by meaningful silence too, because fuck, he doesn’t know how to say all that responsible professionals stuff that it’s probably time for them to talk about. 

“Mm. And now we both have a free evening.” Another pause, and Wrath reaches for Theron’s hand, slowly pries the empty glass that Theron’s been gripping far too tightly out of his hand. He doesn’t take his eyes off Theron’s face as he does it and Theron really really can’t make himself look away. 

The thing is, Theron _has_ thought about it. About not being professional about this, of course he’d considered it when planning for all the ways this could go. And then he’d liked the idea maybe a little too much and thought about it some more. All in all, he’d thought about it more than he should have. 

It would have been so much easier, if Wrath had been an unbearable asshole about it. If he’d defaulted to the uncomfortably pushy type of flirting Theron kind of expected, if he wouldn’t have shut up about Manaan and basically been a jerk about everything. All the things Theron had planned for. 

Theron would have hated him, would have slept with him again and written the whole thing off as mission critical and been done with it. He’d been attracted to enough people high up on the awful person scale to know he would have gotten over it fast. Not the physical part maybe, but definitely the temptation to act on it. 

And it would have been so much easier to explain away later, when he had to account for everything he’d done for the duration of this extended leave, or however his absence was going to get reframed when he finally got his proof. Having ‘ _had relations with a Sith to keep his cover_ ’ in his personnel file would be – not great, but no one would really question it. He’d done worse things. ‘ _Had an affair with a Sith_ ’ without any good explanation would be. Bad. And he wasn’t naive enough to think it wouldn’t get found out, if he just conveniently left that part out of his reports. 

Wrath, very inconveniently, was not a jerk about it at all. After Theron strategically retreated from that storeroom and ended up sacrificing one of his personal datapads for that extra copy for Wrath, he had been downright nice, even when no one else was around. Especially when no one was around. He’d brought Theron caff and remembered to get him lunch, when Vette pestered him into going out exploring the town. Hells, _Theron_ didn’t remember to get himself lunch most days. He’d been living off ration bars longer than he liked to think about, even on Rishi, where every street corner had a food stand with at least one type of fresh food that was mostly safe for human consumption. 

And yeah, maybe Wrath was just super concerned about everyone’s effectiveness and that was just his way of making sure they weren’t distracted by going out for food. That wasn’t really all that remarkable on it’s own. But then he also volunteered to go on every single extra fact checking mission Theron needed someone to go on. Was Wrath happy to have an extra reason to go out and intimidate some pirates – probably yes. Still, he did it every time Theron even hinted that it would make his work easier. Some of those runs were absolutely beneath him. Some of them Theron could have done himself with just an ominous holomessage or two. Wrath volunteered to help anyway, every time. 

He was nice about it all. Helpful and nice, still flirting just casually enough that Theron could easily ignore it, if he wanted to. And he was still menacing enough the rest of the time to keep Theron guessing. 

Until now. 

Now Wrath is replacing Theron’s empty drink with a new one and smiling far too sharply. His fingers linger on Theron’s wrist before he lets go. 

“I don’t really have free evenings.” To hell with it, Theron’s about to try honesty. Something like honesty. From a certain point of view. It’s not a lie, anyway, so the Force won’t mess this up. “I’m kind of working all the time, tonight included. Don’t think I remember when I last had any time off. Work comes first, and all that.” 

Theron doesn’t expect this to be enough to discourage Wrath, but _wow_. 

“I’ve noticed,” Wrath says in a voice so low Theron has to use his implants to hear it over the music. And he’s looking at Theron like. Yeah. There’s really no other way to describe that look than admiring. Maybe even love-struck, if Theron’s being more honest than he likes to be. 

It’s not helping. 

It’s possible Theron’s miscalculated by a lot. He tries to remember Wrath’s file, what it says about his type in the ‘ _What if someone has to go undercover for intel_ ’ section. He can’t remember anything about workaholics being Wrath’s thing. Mostly because for Sith files that section is always just ‘DON’T’ in glaring red letters. 

“I will _enjoy_ ,” Wrath says, then leans closer and continues in a whisper, “working against you.” 

Fuck. 

It takes Theron a second too long to understand Wrath’s talking about after, about what’s going to happen after all of the Revanite mess is over. When they go back to being on the opposite sides. That. That is absolutely what Wrath means. 

It’s a threat and a warning, and that’s why it makes Theron’s breath catch. 

The cantina feels too hot all of a sudden, and Theron brings his new drink to his lips far too fast for someone not out to get a chemical burn. He remembers almost too late to take a cautious sip first. Surprisingly, or maybe not, since Wrath was the one to give it to him, the drink is delicious. No idea what it is, though, but since his implants don’t throw any toxin warnings his way, he downs half of it in one go. 

Then he looks up at Wrath’s startlingly adoring expression. Some alcohol is not going to be enough to cool him down. Actually it might make things worse. 

There’s one option Theron hasn’t thought about. He could give in, drag Wrath off to whatever backroom this place has, make some more mistakes. And write it all up as mission related, when the time comes. When he was considering the ways this could go, he’d never considered this one – because why the hells would Theron want to? 

He’s done his best to not consider it since Wrath showed up, because he absolutely does not need a ready made excuse to make this particular, very impressively bad decision again. No stim hangover this time, and no extreme adrenaline high influencing him. It’s tempting, just a little bit, to disable his implants, get slightly inebriated. Have something to blame this on. Theron would still know this is all on him, though. 

And it’s still tempting. 

Tempting when Wrath smiles, takes hold of Theron’s hand again and redirects the drink, Theron’s hand included, to his own lips. Downs the rest of it slowly, when Theron makes no move to pull it back. It’s unfairly tempting when Wrath’s lips accidentally brush against Theron’s fingers around the glass. Impossibly tempting when Wrath, looking at Theron, presses his lips very deliberately to Theron’s wrist. 

Theron has no idea what excuse he’s going to make on that report that he’s going to have to write inevitably. Something incredibly unconvincing, probably. 

It feels like Wrath is pouring fire into Theron’s blood. It feels like he’s lost his balance in orbital gravity, and now he’s finally, inescapably being pulled closer. He can’t remember why he ever tried to resist in the first place. Wrath’s probably the one Sith in the galaxy that seems ready to step back when not getting his way. Would he still do that, if Theron let him into his bed again? Or just his pants, really, because they didn’t make it to anything resembling a bed last time. 

Theron’s leaning closer, not sure what he’s going to do (that one’s a lie, he knows damn well), when they’re interrupted. 

A blaster bolt hits the bar between them and leaves a smoking scorch mark on the uneven surface. 

Theron gets down and has his blaster out in a flash. So does Wrath, and for a moment Theron’s thrown by the blaster in his hand. Pirates. Wrath is still playing that role in Raider’s Cove. The shots that follow are all in random directions, not aimed at them. It’s a typical cantina fight, apparently, and – Theron narrows his eyes – yeah, it looks like Zaiken’s somehow involved. 

Even though it has nothing to do with them, they still have to get past the combat to get out, and seeing as the cantina is full of pirates, the combat ends up spreading to most of the patrons. It’s complete chaos, which is both good for not getting noticed and bad for getting out unscathed. 

By the time they’re finally outside, Theron’s shirt is soaked in someone’s drink. It might be flerovium flux though, no way to tell the difference. For a minute he looks at it and considers the pros and cons of walking back to the safehouse shirtless. Then he feels his skin starting to tingle suspiciously and decides not to risk it and takes it off. 

Without looking up he can feel that Wrath is watching him again. 

Theron’s not sure he wants to look up, but there isn’t really an alternative here, so eventually he stops trying to wipe the moisture off his skin with the semi-dry part of the shirt and looks at Wrath. The orange evening light looks good on him. 

And yeah, he’s definitely looking at Theron. 

Theron has no idea what Wrath is thinking – he’s gone back to vaguely smirking and looking inscrutable. The way his eyes are tracing Theron’s abs is less ambiguous. That moment, whatever that was back there at the bar, is gone, though. 

The sky’s getting darker and the rapidly cooling air is clearing up Theron’s head. Reminding him that actually he maybe doesn’t want to fuck up his career just because a hot Sith is being nice to him. 

He knows better. Usually. Point is, he knows how bad of an idea it is. He’s almost grateful to Kai for starting that fight. 

He’s also pretty sure Wrath knows exactly how close Theron was to kissing him back at the bar. 

Wrath doesn’t say anything about it, though, not when Theron says with a rueful smile, “Time to get back to work.” 

He does take his coat off and offers it to Theron. Puts it on him and then runs his hands over Theron’s shoulders to smooth out imaginary creases. It’s a really warm coat and it’s huge on Theron. 

“So.” 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Wrath says, close enough that Theron has to tilt his head to look at him. It’s not as awkward as Theron would have expected, after how their brief night out has gone. 

“Yeah. See you then, Sith.” 

Theron walks back to the safehouse, loads up all the intel he got from Zaiken and goes to sleep. And spends a long time lying awake, thinking about that stupidly huge coat and Wrath’s adoring expression, and how it felt like to have it aimed at him. 

He wishes he could be one hundred percent sure he won’t fuck up his chance to get his job back over it. 


End file.
